Local councils given £4 million MORE to tackle rogue landlords

Local councils given £4 million MORE to tackle rogue landlords

The government funding is part of a major drive to kick dodgy landlords out of the private rented sector and follows £2 million initial funding earlier this year.

5th November 2019 0 179 Views

Councils across the country have been given £4 million in new funding to tackle rogue landlords, it has been announced by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick (above).

Councils can bid for a slice of the funding to step up their enforcement action against rogue landlords who break the law and provide inadequate service to their tenants.

The plan is that the funding will be used to allow good landlords to thrive, helping tenants and creating a housing market that “works for everyone”.

Earlier this year £2 million of funding was shared amongst 56 projects, reaching 100 councils and a million PRS households.

“It’s unacceptable that a small minority of unscrupulous landlords appear to be breaking the law – providing homes which fall short of the standards that tenants rightly expect,” says Jenrick.

“Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure, and the funding will help to further strengthen councils’ powers to crack down on criminal landlords and drive up standards.

“We have given local authorities strong powers to force landlords to make necessary improvements to a property. They can use measures including fines and banning orders, to tackle criminal landlords.”

LAST YEAR THE FUNDING WAS USED TO:

• Train ‘hundreds’ of inspection officers and create new technologies to improve the sector.
• Uncover poor-quality homes and ensure vulnerable tenants know they will be supported.
• Carry out proactive inspections of rented homes to reach vulnerable tenants.
• To find and fix over 100 hazards across the properties they inspected.
• Help tenants trapped in properties that posted safety issues – and be rehoused in quality accommodation.

“The government wants to support a thriving private rented sector across the country,” says Jenrick. “The funding announced today will encourage councils to share best practice of enforcement action and examples of inventive approaches that can be adopted nationwide to drive quality and stamp out bad landlords.”